Robs Tool

Forum Revamped 

Users are now able to send private messages, mark threads as read, view profiles set profiles, the works.

All forum accounts have been recreated.

Your password is the same password you use to login to squirt.

 All the old posts are saved in the forum, however new posts that you create will be editable.

The original problem was the way the forum was created, the users were created by putting them directly into the vbb.user table. Although this gave basic functionality the method has been changed to use the internal methods of vbb to create the user. This allows users alot more of the vbb functionality.

 Again if you have any issues send email to robertmoore(at)robstool(dot)com.

 Thanks guys!

 Stay tuned for our update on  Feb 15th.

The SQUIRT processes have been changed from simple scripts to now running as a server daemon.A server daemon is a process on the server that runs 24hrs a day / 7 days a week. Unlike a cronjob that checks every 1 minute, the new setup runs all the time and looks for new submissions all the time. This is a major step in our overhaul of the squirt process.

How does this affect the squirt?

By it running one executable instead of starting a new process for each task it reduces the CPU load by about 80%. One of our major hurdles with squirt is dealing with the CPU power of various servers. Although the SQUIRT server is very powerful machine, the amount of checks that each part of squirt analyzes uses up the most powerful of servers. With the new reduced load this allows us to ADD new features into the squirt promotion techniques.We are currently working on taking the submitted keywords attached to each submission and having some randomly grammatically structured sentences generated for each submission. This will help on some of the network sites that we have developed for squirt members. These network sites and the upcoming generated content will help add a unique content factor to each submission. This will also help get the submissions through faster.You will also see the daemon status in your user panel. It shoes the status of the Linux service such as running or not running and also the version of the service that is running.

What are we working on adding into squirt membership?

Now that we have optimized the squirt processes on a server mechanical level to the most efficient way known to us, we have opened up some doors to adding in some more CPU intensive promotion techniques. [

• Forum Reconstruction using new structure - (This will fix Private Messaging, Post Edits and many other things within the forum) [Expected End of January]

• A new Template – (For the entire squirt process) – An Easier to navigate interface [ Expected 15th of February]

• A clone script – Insert a source FTP SITE and path, and then insert a few destinations, the script then clones the source to the destination, sets all permissions the same. [Expected End of February]

Eli and I have decided to take squirt in a new direction. Recently the amount of updates to squirt has not been up to the bar that we originally set for the squirt project.

 This is mostly due to our project load up until Jan..

 We are re-focusing on the entire squirt experience.

 We have set deadlines for squirt projects. We will release updates every 2 weeks. On the 15th, and the last day of the month.

 The first update in the batch of kick starting the squirt process is a revamp of the actual squirt submission tool. There are several new methods of promotion we are going to include in that. Also a revamp of a portion of the back end to increase efficency.

There are also several other major changes on the table for squirt.

Originally we let past members keep their “forum” account. However we have the need to reinstall the VBB (Posts will be saved) and recreate the accounts. This will fix the problem with the private messages, the editing of the posts and some other user functions in the forum. However by fixing that problem with the forum, the accounts that are not active subscriptions will not be able to be recreated.

This is the update scheduled for the end of january.

We would also like to get feedback on the idea of having a community vault. Exactly like the squirt vault, where you can download various tools and data files, the difference being that the content in that vault will be uploaded by other members in the community.

 There is no doubt that the quality of information within the squirt community is astounding.  The amount of knowledge within this community is beyond any possible expectations we ever conceived.

 With that in mind, I would like to extend a challenge to our little community. We need to double all of our income this year. We’re going to be more efficent, wider niched, higher converstions.

 I am very excited about 2008..

I look forward to seeying you guys in the forums.!